Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Rhino Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv Subject: Re: Bill Maher Warns Canada Is A "Cautionary Tale" For U.S.: "We're Diving Off A Cliff" Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2024 22:01:36 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 58 Message-ID: <20240419220136.00000a95@example.com> References: <2gm02jtc2er3me9s0ltb76ueo56ch90ro6@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 04:01:38 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="e766ffb93646c5e60f60846a9b5b9b01"; logging-data="3470337"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX185uZ2N6t1ld41A7kdv9ytjtpOO+ntFWLI=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:pHQ/x12sNhCSJ17hH0eG1kv66nY= X-Antivirus-Status: Clean X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.2.0 (GTK 3.24.41; x86_64-w64-mingw32) X-Antivirus: Avast (VPS 240419-4, 4/19/2024), Outbound message Bytes: 4116 On Fri, 19 Apr 2024 02:23:40 -0700 The Horny Goat wrote: > On Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:11:00 -0400, Rhino > wrote: > > >Actually, we DO have (more-or-less) fixed election dates both > >federally and in some provinces, including mine, BUT I saw a story > >recently that the feds are developing legislation to delay the next > >federal election by approximately a week. (I didn't see a proper > >explanation but I strongly suspect it is to ensure that those who > >got elected in the 2019 election have just over 6 years in > >Parliament so they qualify for those very generous pensions.) I had > >not realized that our feds even had the ability to adjust election > >dates that way and I'm really not very happy about it. > > There's no such things as fixed election dates when there's a minority > government (e.g. when there are more than 2 parties and the top party > has a plurality not a majority in the House) as Canada has had since > 2019. > I think we have the same (correct) understanding of how elections work in this country, we're just quibbling about the terms. Perhaps a phrasing that we can agree on is that no federal government in this country, whether it has a majority or a minority, can now have a term longer than 4 years. (It used to be 5 years.) However, a minority government may call an earlier election if it thinks it can better its seat count. (Has a majority government ever gone to the polls early to improve its seat count? I can't think of one but I suppose it might have happened.) And, of course, a minority government can be defeated if enough of the smaller parties get together and get a larger vote count on a confidence measure. > Politicians can SAY 'the next election will be on _________' but > unless they actually have a majority there's no guarantee and besides > you're not seriously telling me politicians never have their fingers > crossed when they speak to the public are you > > We're in the happy position of having had neither of our past two > members having qualified for one of those obscenely cushy pensions but > our current MP is both a cabinet minister and someone who WILL get a > pension should he gain re-election this time which is by no means > guaranteed. > > Obscenely = "gets severance pay (which if memory serves is about a > year's pay for a 2 term MP) BEFORE that pension kicks in" They get "severance pay" AND the pension?? I didn't know about the severance pay portion. I've NEVER been happy about parliamentarians setting their own salaries but this just makes me unhappier about it! I remember when the current system was being conceived and someone or another proposed that MP salaries be set by some independent body but couldn't get Parliament to go for that - unsurprisingly. -- Rhino